JaredRichardsondeactivated

Jared was a beloved husband, father, brother and son who has touched many lives. In his professional career, Jared was a consultant, developer, tester, and manager, including Director of Development at several companies. He was the author of two books, Ship It! and Career 2.0, and was the 2nd public signatory of the Agile Manifesto. Jared was Screencast Editor for the Pragmatic Bookshelf, and co-founded The GROWS™ Method. He started AgileRTP in 2007 and is well known as a coach and consultant through his company, Agile Artisans.
Please share your stories on how Jared has touched your life, and we'll be working to compile the stories together for his family. We're also collecting donations for his family at https://www.gofundme.com/jared-richardson-college-fund

Jared Richardson was a wonderful friend, confidant and a truly phenomenal person. I am truly honored to have known and worked with him this year as a coach . He will be trully missed by the whole agile community and Fidelity family and personally .. coffee mornings and coaches lunches.
The 3 things I'd like to share that he continously inspired are
1. Follow your dream and have fun doing what you love.
2. Be respectful and treat everyone as the exceptional person they are, regardless of their race, gender, stature e.tc.
3. Lightening the moment in challenging situations is crucial... And as he often said " When all else fails, bring out the taser!" Shock people to the realization they need to make a change.. or have a conversation
My heart goes out to wife and children. I would like to kildly ask my facebook friends to continue to show their support by contributing to his children's college fund. Truly missed but always remembered everyday.

I remember first meeting Jared at the US Agile Coach Camp in 2010; he had volunteered to help out with onsite stuff and when we realized we needed more flipcharts he and I went out to get some. I really enjoyed our conversation to and from and felt I had a kindred spirit in NC (I'm from DC area). Ship It! was one of the first 'Agile' books I had bought... Years later we'd see each other on the Speaker circuit on occasion and we always managed to touch base and see how each other were doing.

In many ways, I owe the last 10 years of my career to Jared’s selfless encouragement and support. It’s been a decade of newfound happiness, achievement, joy, friendships, and satisfaction that I may very well have missed out on if not for Jared’s generous mentorship.
I met Jared at the 2006 No Fluff Just Stuff conference in RTP. He was demonstrating the ease of setting up SVN and continuous integration, and inspiring a room full of programmers to take their practices to the next level. I approached Jared afterwards, and I was struck by his attentiveness and willingness to patiently entertain my questions after his full day of speaking. Little did I know that this was just a glimpse of the tremendous kindness and generosity that Jared would offer me over the coming year.
Within a few months, Jared motivated me to write a book, and then encouraged me throughout the process and generously donated his time reviewing my writing and making it better. He encouraged me to speak at conferences, and cheered me on each time I gave a talk. And building on those things, Jared helped me find the courage to pursue the most rewarding move of my career.
Each step along the way, Jared's mentorship was the perfect mix of thoughtful, constructive, and motivating. In helping me refine my résumé, for example, he considered both the big picture and the smallest details, even taking the time to offer advice like, "I don't think bullets should have terminating periods unless you have multiple sentences per bullet." And throughout, he was always encouraging, choosing to close that same email by saying, "Glad to do it. I can tell people I knew you Way Back When. :)"
This is just one example. Jared entertained countless other emails from me. He selflessly offered his guidance and support, spoke humbly and openly about his own pitfalls, and set a new standard in my eyes for what it means to be a mentor.
After re-reading my emails with him in which he helped me refine my writing, I'm certain he would point out that this story is "a bit wordy." Forgive me, Jared. And thank you for everything. I miss you.

I used to love our coffee runs and lunches while working at BCBS. Mid-morning he'd walk over, lean over my little cube wall and whisper "You need a break" while flashing that quirky smile of his.
I was trying to remember exactly when I met Jared, at least 10 years or so ago, it's like he slipped into my life unnoticed and immediately became a friend. Easy to talk to, full of great ideas and things to try, without being pushy. Demeanor we would all be wise to emulate...

I had the pleasure/challenge of speaking with Jared to TriJUG when we decided to split a talk. He was super easy to work with, but by golly a tough act to follow on the stage! He was a dynamo of a presenter, sharp as a tack, and the sort of person whose name doesn't slip from memory.

I only met Jared a handful of times. He was an Agile coach at my company and when I found out he was there, I scheduled lunch with him. He was so friendly and helpful during that first lunch, and I learned so much from him. We had lunch a few more times. During the last lunch I had with him and another coach I told Jared the story of how I wanted to write a book about being the father of a special needs child. He was so understanding and so encouraging. I will never forget it and he left an eternal impression on me. He truly inspired me to follow this dream of mine. May he rest in the eternal peace and love of God our Father.

This was at a conference in 2009 in North Carolina. I met Jared a few years earlier in Reston, VA when he was a fairly new speaker for No Fluff, Just Stuff. I remember commenting on his blog. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I met him again at Portland in RailsConf, and then at this event. It's hard to believe he's no longer with us.

I met Jared while he was touring with the No Fluff Just Stuff technical conference many years ago. I immediately identified him as a smart cookie, and a little while later, he was at my company HQ in Milwaukee, WI for a week, helping us with some training at my request.
We connected a bit at the time, then found each other as Facebook friends due to our shared passion for backyard chickens. Occasionally, we'd talk tech stuff, but most of it was around our families (including the chickens). I remember actually laughing out loud the first time I saw one of his chickens in diapers.
Jared was a dedicated, creative, intelligent, and faithful man. I respect him to this day, and I grieve for his family, who I only knew through photos. My colleagues only got a glimpse of Jared during the training he provided, but he was an inspiration to me, both in terms of technical knowledge and wisdom, and in terms of representing a strong foundation for his family.

We were at Carabba's italian restaurant and had piled together a larg glass of sweet tea, ice, noodles, salt, pepper, a napkin, and a lemon. Jared jokingly dared me to take a sip, so I did. He then proceeded to give me 5 bucks, as he promised, and I put it in my savings account XD